‘Dey Challenge’ Man Not Upset of Being Memed After Netizens Imitated Him Sticking Tongue Out Angrily

With all the negativity surrounding the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple controversy, perhaps the only silver lining out of this is that it gave birth to a fresh meme where Malaysians could all laugh at. And seeing how popular this meme got, it stands to show that Malaysians are still united as ever. ❤️🇲🇾

Lately, a man who filmed himself during the riot at USJ25 temple has gone massively viral on social media. The man was seen screaming “dey” loudly to the camera as he stuck his tongue out and lifted his hand up as if about to assault someone.

But he didn’t react violently. He shakingly calmed himself down and gestured “no” to the camera.

Since the video surfaced on the Internet, Malaysians couldn’t help but laugh at the man’s hilarious show of frustration. So much so that netizens started a new trend called “Dey Challenge” or “Theyy Challenge” where they imitate the man.

One post that compiled all the challenges was shared over 42,000 times on Facebook and it has over 40 entries. There was even one where a netizen had made a remixed soundtrack out of the video. And it sounds hella dope! 🤘

Despite being mocked and parodied on the Internet, the man, who has been identified as S Kanagarajah, said he wasn’t offended by it.

“If my angry outburst makes them happy, then it’s no problem. Let them be happy.

“I just saw them doing this funny thing trying to imitate me,” FMT quoted the 42-year-old businessman as saying.

He related that he was merely expressing his frustration at the tense situation near the temple in the wee hours of Tuesday morning (Nov 27). He also denied that his recorded reaction was made out of fun.

“I did what I did because I was disappointed with what was happening.

“If you ask me, at the time, I felt like crying. I was not trying to make an angry face but I was disappointed seeing my friends beaten up until they bled from the head.

“We don’t want to fight with anyone. We just wanted to pray,” he said.

According to NST, Kanagarajah said the scuffle at the temple was not a racial issue.

“I can say that this is not a racial problem because I’ve lived in Subang Jaya for 35 years and since childhood, all my friends are Malays,” he said, claiming that 200 intruders came with parangs and hoes to attack about 40 people who were praying at that time.

“They (the intruders) were hired by certain people. Nobody would do these things for free.

“It was not us who started the fight. The people who started this are sitting in air-conditioned rooms. Now, we and our Malay friends have become the victims.”

In the challenge, we have people from all walks of life imitating Kanagarajah. Yup, a boy as well as a lovely lady did an adorable version of it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqwJ4kinTlc/

Asyraff Cosmetics co-founder and also an influencer herself, Natasya Nazreen did the challenge after pointing out that the challenge was mostly taken by men. She did it anyway and her followers loved it. It was viewed over 300,000 times on Instagram.

You may view all the netizens’ takes on the challenge and the aforementioned music remixed on the next page.